Heart Breaker
by amandajbruce
Summary: Before Henry Griffin came along, Jasper Bartlet asked Maggie Winnock out, but for Maggie Winnock, the possibility of Broken Heart Syndrome was a plausible reason to turn down a date.


**A/N: This has been on my computer for a while, and I completely forgot that I had it. I love Unnatural History, but I don't think it's a fandom I'll be writing for a whole lot. This was just an idea I wanted to play around with, and I figured I'd go ahead and share it.**

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Heart Breaker

Margaret Winnock could remember with absolute clarity the first time she ever received relationship advice. She was seven and it came from a colleague of her father's. It had gone a little something like this:

"_Well, aren't you just as pretty as a picture?"_

"_Thank you." _With the appropriately lowered eyes and sweet smile to not let the woman know that little Maggie had just been going through the books on the shelf because she was bored and was ready to go home.

"_I bet you are going to be quite the heart breaker one day. Just make sure you let all those boys down easy." _Followed, of course, by an appreciative chuckle by the other adults in the room and a few nodding heads.

"_That's not a very nice thing to say." _Maggie's voice was matter of fact, ringing crystal clear through the sea of people she was immersed in, and she ignored the shocked stares from the adults around her, tossing her hair haughtily as she had seen women who knew they were right do before preparing to flounce away. _"Broken Heart Syndrome is a very real and very serious problem. Just because it's rare doesn't mean that you should make jokes about it. People die." _And her big eyes filled with the sorrow that she must have felt for those imaginary people dying of broken hearts.

As she got older, the same colleagues that had attended that function liked to joke with her that she had been so young, she just didn't understand what the woman had said to her. But she had. And she did. And Margaret Winnock was no heart breaker. She didn't lead anyone on. And she was not about to advocate any kind of false hope.

That's why she was straight forward with any boy who gave her those puppy dog eyes. Any boy who offered to carry her books. Any boy who got his hopes up over a tutoring session.

Well, any boy except one, and that one slip came back to bite her.

"Hey, Maggie! Hey, wait up!"

"Hay is for horses," Maggie muttered under her breath, slowing her walk down the hall. It had been a phrase her grandmother often uttered that stuck in her brain every time someone used the informal greeting, even if she was guilty of doing it herself. "Did you need to copy my history notes, Bartlet?"

"What? No. I take my own notes. Most of the time." Jasper was a little winded from his hurry through the throng of students attempting to make their way to their next class. He puffed out a quick breath before inhaling sharply and speaking again. "I was just... You know, this is the Homecoming weekend. Traditionally a really important weekend for school spirit and demonstrating unity and-"

"Jasper, do you care about school spirit at all?" Maggie cut him off, annoyed with the possibility that he could, very possibly, be making her late to class because he wanted to talk about the Homecoming traditions in place at Smithson High.

"What do you mean by that? Of course I care about school spirit! My father is the man in charge. I'm genetically obligated." He smiled widely, but there was a thin sheen of sweat at his hairline and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "."

It took her a minute to process what he said. "Oh." Her voice flattened out, and she tried to think of something nice, anything nice. _Just make sure you let all those boys down easy. _Her heart pounded and her muscles tightened when she hesitated.

"Just thought. You know. It could be fun. We could grab dinner first. Veggie, of course." Jasper chuckled to himself, quickly looking down at his shoes after she still didn't say anything.

And Margaret Winnock was rarely tongue tied. She normally had fully outlined speeches ready to go at the drop of a hat. This was an event she had not been prepared for though. And really, who could blame her? Who could have anticipated this? Jasper Bartlet, who frequently volunteered to debate against her in class. Jasper Bartlet, who always criticized her environmental projects. Jasper Bartlet, who she had struck up a tentative academic friendship with because he was one of the few people who could keep up with her quicker than lightning thoughts.

In the span of ten seconds, her brain worked to weigh her options. She could go, they could have a good time, and they could wind up dating for a while, and then she could break his heart. Or they could go, and it was awful because she couldn't walk in heels, much less dance in them, and she would do something stupid, something not Margaret Winnock like, and then she could break his heart. Or she could just say no, say she wants to be friends, which could also... break his heart. She was seeing a pattern here.

_I bet you are going to be quite the heart breaker one day. Just make sure you let all those boys down easy._

But the thing was, she never expected him to have any kind of real feelings for her. In fact, she suspected that he didn't have any real feelings for her at all. He just took an interest because she was one of the few girls who gave him the time of day. She was willing to talk to him, though most of their conversations involved homework or assigned debates. She only wished she had seen it earlier. Because the idea of Broken Heart Syndrome did still haunt her. No matter how much she thought he didn't really care.

_Broken Heart Syndrome, _her brain began to recite against her will, _causes symptoms similar to that of a heart attack. It is typically triggered by acute emotional or physical trauma that releases a surge of adrenaline, overwhelming the cardiac muscle, and causing the heart to give out. _

"I can't." Maggie kept her voice even, trying to sound soothing, like you would with a wounded animal. "I'm not going to the dance. I have plans this weekend for a seminar on... romance languages." Urgh. Why did she have to use the word romance? Was she trying to add more cracks to the foundation?

"Oh, maybe another time then?"

Jasper's eyes lit up with something akin to hope, and Maggie felt something like a shattering in the vicinity of her own heart. Dinners, dances, those were not things she wanted to do with him. She enjoyed listening to his answers in history, and she appreciated his head for math and science, but she wasn't sure she wanted to share more than classroom interests with him. Not yet.

To be honest, she didn't want to share more than classroom interests with anyone else right now. She was trying to stay focused. And heartbreak free.

"I think... I think it would be better if we kept this platonic. I'm trying to keep myself focused right now. I'm not dating." She gave him a tight smile, her cheeks coloring, wanting to be anywhere else but right there.

"Yeah. Sure." Jasper's voice was as flat as hers had been earlier, but he nodded, spinning around, and making his way to his own class.

Maggie waited a few moments, resisting the urge to call after him and tell him she was sorry. Because she really was. Normally, she wouldn't even allow the possibility of saying yes to enter her mind. When she turned to go to class, it was her own hands that were shaking from a rush of adrenaline. She took deep breaths, centering herself, and using the lesson as a distraction.

She needn't have worried though. By Monday, Jasper was back to debating against her in class and criticizing her vegetarian approach to life. And things went back to the way they were. Except for every once in a while, when she would catch herself staring at him, reciting the statistics for Broken Heart Syndrome over and over in her head. She wasn't sure if she was trying to mentally warn him from trying again because she didn't want to hurt him and turn him down, or if she was trying to warn herself because she was afraid she wouldn't.


End file.
